Here are a few examples to help you cite your sources in MLA format:
Format: Author(s). "Title of Part." Title of Book, edited by Editor, edition, vol. #, Publisher, Year, page number(s). Database Name (if electronic), URL.
Example: Parsloe, Sarah M. "How Fishy is it? Risk Communication and Perceptions of Genetically Engineered Salmon." Food Safety: a Reference Handbook, by Nina E. Redman and Michele Morrone, 3rd ed., ABC-CLIO, 2017, pp. 121-126. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,sso&db=nlebk&AN=1457340&site=ehost-live&scope=site.
Format: Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Journal, vol. #, no. #, Date of Publication, page number(s). Database Name (if electronic).
Example: Melugin, Jessica."Net Neutrality is Bad for Consumers." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, 2018. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.gale.com/apps/doc/IQBUHE201042021/OVIC?u=spartechcl&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=ba4e19e4.
Format: "Title of Article." Database Name, Publisher, Date of Publication, URL.
Example: "Childhood Obesity." Issues & Controversies, Infobase, 6 Mar. 2023, icof.infobase.com/articles/QXJ0aWNsZVRleHQ6MTY1MDU=.
Format: Creator(s). "Title of Graph." Title of Source in Italics, Publisher, Date. Database Name, URL.
Example: "Estimated Volume of Food Waste Generated in the United States from 2016 to 2019 (in Millions Tons)." 2019 Wasted Food Report, Environmental Protection Agency, Apr. 2023. Statista, www.statista.com/statistics/1386235/amount-of-food-waste-generated-in-the-united-states/.
Format: Author(s). “Title of Article.” Title of Website in Italics, Website Publisher (if different than title), Date of publication, URL.
*Note: Exclude publisher if title of website and publisher are the same.
*Note: If website does not have a date, add an access date at the end after the URL: Accessed 7 May 2016.
*Note: Do not include the http:// or https:// in the URL.
Example 1: Fowler, Betheny, and Robert Cox. "School Meals Will be Free at Multiple Spartanburg Co. Districts." 7 News WSPA.COM, Nexstar Media Group, 27 July 2023, www.wspa.com/news/school/students-in-spartanburg-school-district-1-to-receive-free-meals/.
Example 2: "State of SC | 2023-2024, Graduation Rate: On-Time Graduation Rate." SC School Report Cards, 2024. screportcards.com/overview/academics/graduation-rate/?q=eT0yMDI0JnQ9UyZzaWQ9OTk5OTk5OQ.
Format: Author(s). "Title of Article." Title of Newspaper in Italics, Date of Publication, page number(s). Database Name in Italics (if electronic), URL.
*Note: For local newspapers, if the city is not included in the title of the paper add the city in square brackets after the newspaper title: The Herald [Rock Hill]
*Note: For articles published by the Associated Press or other News Agency, do not list an author.
Example: Johnson, Joanna. "Ask Joanna: How Does the Recycling Process Work in Spartanburg? And Why Glass isn't Accepted?" Herald-Journal [Spartanburg, SC], 27 July 2022. NewsBank, infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=AWNB&req_dat=0D9DAF6CB3F4D1.
For quotes that are longer than four lines of prose or three lines of verse, use a block quotation.
On a new line, indent the quote 1/2 inch from the margin and maintain double spacing. You do not need to include quotation marks around the quote, since your indentation shows your reader this is a longer quote.
Your in-text citation will come after you close the quote with punctuation (which is different than a normal in-text citation).
If you are quoting verse (poetry, etc.) use the line breaks found in the original text.
Example: In The Great Gatsby, Nick often describes the feeling of being watched by the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg:
But above the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, you perceive, after a moment, the eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg. The eyes of Doctor T.J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic--their retinas are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a non-existent nose. Evidently some wild wag of an oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the borough of Queens, and then sank down himself into eternal blindness or forgot them and moved away. But his eyes, dimmed a little by many paintless days under sun and rain, brood on over the solemn dumping ground. (Fitzgerald 23)
Please see below for MLA guidelines on how to cite images or graphs from the web or from a database.
Format: Author(s). “Title of Image/Graph.” Title of Website in Italics, Website Publisher (if different than title), Date of Publication/Posting, URL.
Example: “Kim Kardashian.” Vanity Fair, Condé Nast, 11 Jan. 2004, www.vanityfair.com.
Example 2: Lange, Dorothea. "Migrant Mother." Prints & Photographs Reading Room Collection, Library of Congress, 11 Jan. 2004, montevideo.usembassy.gov.
Example (No Title): Penguin sitting on rock. National Geographic, www.natgeo.com/images/149603845. Accessed 9 Feb. 2021.
Example (Artwork): Van Gogh, Vincent. The Starry Night. 1889. MoMALearning, Museum of Modern Art, www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/vincent-van-gogh-the-starry-night-1889/.
*Note: For images without titles, create a descriptive title in plain text – no italics, no quotes. Capitalize only the first word and any proper nouns.
*Note: Italicize titles of formal art work and include the date of creation after the title with a period. The Starry Night. 1889.
*Note: Include an accessed date at the end if no date of publication/posting is available.
*Note: Image URLs should be from the actual website that hosts the image. Be careful with this. If you use Google or another search engine to find the image, if you copy the URL it may give you Google's search URL rather than the actual URL of the image's website.
*Note: You can usually omit the http:// unless needed to hyperlink.
*Note: For URLs longer than 3 lines, you can shorten the URL. Always retain the host (main website) of the URL.
Format: Creator(s). "Title of Image/Graph." Title of Source (if given), Publisher, Date. Database Name, URL.
Example: Johnson, Clinton. "Boston Street Scene." Library of Congress, 1895. Credo Reference, go.openathens.net/redirector/sccsc.edu?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.credoreference.com%2Fcontent%2Fentry%2Fbridgeart%2
Fstate_street_boston_engraved_by_s_lacey_engraving_b_w_photo%2F0%3FinstitutionId%3D2682.
Example: "Daily Time Spent on Social Networking by Internet Users Worldwide from 2012 to 2022 (in Minutes)." Digital 2022: Global Digital Overview, We Are Social / DataReportal / Hootsuite, 26 Jan. 2022. Statista, www.statista.com/statistics/433871/daily-social-media-usage-worldwide/.
MLA gives two different ways to cite an images in a presentation or paper depending on how you are using the image in your presentation. The difference depends on whether the image is just for illustration or decoration (a stand along image), or if you're going to refer to this image in your presentation (the image itself is part of the content of your presentation.
Option 1: Image is for Illustration or Decoration (not going to talk directly about the image during your presentation).
In this case, list the entire citation information in the caption of the image. Do not list it on your Works Cited page at the end.
Option 2: Image is Part of the Presentation (going to talk about the image specifically during your presentation)
In this case, you'll still include a caption for the image, but the caption will only include an in-text citation, and the entire citation information will go on the Works Cited page like you with a regular source.
See the two different ways you could use the image below in a presentation, and how the citing would differ.
Option 1: If the image below is on a slide about massage therapists, but you don't directly talk about the image, then you'd include the full citation information in the caption for the image. See below.
Fig. 1: Cuttingham, Alyssa. Massage Chair. Massage & Bodywork, vol. 28, no. 3, Dec. 2016, p. 14. Vocational and Career Collection, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,sso&db=imh&AN=imh984947&site=ehost-live&scope=site&custid=s9007306.
Option 2: If you're displaying this image of the massage chair in order to talk about the correct positioning and demonstrate how someone should sit in the chair, meaning that you'll talk about this image and what it shows, then you would include the citation information in your Works Cited, and the caption would just include an in-text citation.
Fig. 1: Correct Positioning in a Massage Chair (Cuttingham 14).
Works Cited
Cuttingham, Alyssa. Massage Chair. Massage & Bodywork, vol. 28, no. 3, Dec. 2016, p. 14. Vocational and Career Collection, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,sso&db=imh&AN=imh984947&site=ehost-live&scope=site&custid=s9007306.
There are several ways to cite Artwork in a project in MLA format.
When you include artwork directly into your paper or presentation, it should be labeled as "Fig." with a number, followed by a period. (Example: Fig. 1.).
Under the image, place a caption that will start with the Figure label and number. Then you have options for how to finish the caption.
Give the full MLA citation for your source. Do not invert the creator's name (if you have one listed).
If you include the full MLA citation in your caption and you do not cite the source again in your project, you do not need to include the source in your Works Cited.
Fig 1. Vincent Van Gogh. Self Portrait. 1889. National Gallery of Art, www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.106382.html.
Give basic information about your source such as the creator of the image, title, year, and any other important information. If you do not include the full MLA citation, your source must be added to your Works Cited page.
Fig. 1. Vincent Van Gogh, Self Portrait, oil on canvas, 1889.
Van Gogh, Vincent. Self Portrait. 1889. National Gallery of Art, www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.106382.html.
This in-text citation information will get you started, but see our full In-text Citation Guide for more information and additional examples.
Place the author’s last name and page number in parenthesis. If the in-text citation is at the end of a sentence, place the period outside the parenthesis.
Example 1: (Hennessy 81).
Example 2: (Hennessy 81-82).
If a source has no page numbers, omit the page number. Keep in mind, most electronic sources do not include pages.
Example 1: ("Everyday Victims")
Example 2: (Jones)
If the source has no author, your in-text citation will use the title of the source that starts your works cited entry. The title may appear in the sentence itself or, abbreviated, before the page number in parenthesis.
Example 1: (“Noon” 508).
Example 2: (Faulkner’s Novels 25).
Example 3: (“Climate Model Simulations").
If the entry on the Works Cited page begins with the names of two authors, include both last names in the in-text citation, connected by and.
Example: (Dorris and Erdrich 23).
If the source has three or more authors, include the first author’s last name followed by et al.
Example: (Burdick et al. 42).
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